Beneath the Eyrie

Beneath the Eyrie is the seventh album from American alternative rock band Pixies, released on September 13, 2019, by BMG/Infectious. Produced by Tom Dalgety, and preceded by the singles "On Graveyard Hill" and "Catfish Kate", the album was recorded in Dreamland Recording Studios, a remote, converted church in upstate New York. The band were influenced by their Gothic surroundings during the writing and recording process, with vocalist and guitarist Black Francis stating: "I wanted to intermingle with the spirit world, with life and death and with the mystical and a more surreal landscape."[3]

Beneath the Eyrie
Studio album by
Pixies
ReleasedSeptember 13, 2019 (2019-09-13)
Recorded2018–2019
StudioDreamland Recording Studios, Hurley, New York, United States
GenreIndie rock[1] Gothic rock[2]
LabelBMG/Infectious
ProducerTom Dalgety
Pixies chronology
Head Carrier
(2016)		 Beneath the Eyrie
(2019)
Singles from Beneath the Eyrie
  1. "On Graveyard Hill"
    Released: June 3, 2019
  2. "Catfish Kate"
    Released: August 6, 2019

Recording and release

The album was produced by Tom Dalgety, who had previously worked with the band on their 2016 album Head Carrier. Its release was preceded by lead single "On Graveyard Hill" on June 3, 2019,[1] followed by second single "Catfish Kate" on August 6.[4]

The album's title was inspired by an eagle's nest discovered at the back of the converted church that the band were recording in: "There was an old train track from the 1800s that was all grown in. When you walk to the train track you can get a glint of a giant eagle’s nest, a bald eagle’s nest. It’s huge, quite a sight."[3]

The album's cover was designed by Vaughan Oliver, who had designed all of Pixies' album artwork since Come On Pilgrim in 1987. Beneath the Eyrie was Oliver's last collaboration with the band before his death in December 2019.[5]

Promotion

Leading up to the album, the 12-episode series It’s a Pixies Podcast (originally entitled Past Is Prologue),[6] hosted by Tony Fletcher,[7] began releasing episodes on June 27, detailing the recording of each song.[1] The final episode was released on September 12.

On September 5, the band performed "Catfish Kate" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[8]

The band has a world tour in support of the album planned for Europe, North America, and Australasia throughout the remainder of 2019 and into 2020. At the Australasian shows, the band will perform Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa in their entirety.[9]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
Clash8/10[12]
DIY[13]
The Guardian[14]
The Independent[15]
NME[16]
The Observer[17]
Pitchfork6.7/10[18]
PopMatters7/10[19]
Rolling Stone[20]

Beneath the Eyrie was met with generally positive reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. This release received a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 21 reviews.[10] Many considered the album their best since reforming in 2004, but most critics agreed that the album would not win over any fans of the band's earlier work. Consequence of Sound described the album as "a no-bullshit sugar-snort of riffs and melodies that neither dip much in quality nor come close to scaling past heights."[21] Many praised the direction into more pop-inspired, mellow tracks. PopMatters described the album as the "portrait" of the band's "musical progression and an arresting glimpse of the group in this contemporary musical moment."[19] Pitchfork described some of the songs as sounding like possible b-sides to their third album Bossanova.[18] However, in a negative review, The Observer said that although the album is better than many of the bands the Pixies inspired, "it isn't terribly good either."[17]

Track listing

All tracks written by Black Francis, except where noted.

  1. "In the Arms of Mrs. Mark of Cain" – 4:13
  2. "On Graveyard Hill" (Francis, Paz Lenchantin) – 3:25
  3. "Catfish Kate" – 3:08
  4. "This Is My Fate" – 3:20
  5. "Ready for Love" – 2:33
  6. "Silver Bullet" – 3:44
  7. "Long Rider" (Francis, Lenchantin) – 3:32
  8. "Los Surfers Muertos" (Francis, Lenchantin) – 2:54
  9. "St. Nazaire" – 2:27
  10. "Bird of Prey" – 2:37
  11. "Daniel Boone" – 4:52
  12. "Death Horizon" – 2:07

Japanese edition bonus track

  1. "Caught in a Dream" (Demo) – 2:56

Beneath the Eyrie LP 2

The deluxe boxset edition of Beneath the Eyrie included a second vinyl, LP 2 (Demos), with nine new demo tracks. The tracks were later made available on streaming platforms. All songs written by Black Francis.

  1. "The Good Works of Cyrus" – 2:08
  2. "Please Don't Go" – 2:53
  3. "Chapel Hill" – 1:20
  4. "Caught in a Dream" – 2:48
  5. "Mal De Mer" – 2:29
  6. "Hey, Debussy" – 3:21
  7. "Under the Marigold" – 3:26
  8. "How I Learned to Earn Rewards" – 2:57
  9. "I Just Can't Break It to You" – 3:38

Personnel

Pixies

Technical personnel

Charts
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 36
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[23] 41
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[25] 21
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[26] 85
French Albums (SNEP)[27] 21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 22
Irish Albums (IRMA)[29] 7
Italian Albums (FIMI)[30] 97
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[31] 101
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[32] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[33] 3
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[34] 15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[35] 26
UK Albums (OCC)[36] 7

See also

References
  1. Strauss, Matthew (June 3, 2019). "Pixies Detail New Album Beneath the Eyrie, Share New Song: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  2. https://www.nme.com/features/pixies-black-francis-joey-santiago-interview-2019-beneath-the-eyrie-2546942 {{cite interview |date=12 September 2019| quote=So, if I’m going to give [‘Beneath the Eyrie’] a theme, we set out intentionally to make a gothic record. But that’s it. What is the concept? Gothic. It is gothic.”
  3. Beaumont, Mark. "Pixies: 'There's enough bombast on Twitter without Trump adding to it'". The Independent. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  4. Moreland, Quinn. "Listen to Pixies' New Song "Catfish Kate"". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  5. Kreps, Daniel (December 29, 2019). "Vaughan Oliver, Pixies' Album Art Designer, Dead at 62". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  6. Colburn, Randall (January 23, 2019). "Pixies to Chronicle the Creation of Their New Album with a 12-Part Podcast Series". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  7. Shaffer, Claire (June 3, 2019). "Pixies Detail New Album, Release First New Song 'On Graveyard Hill'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  8. Cush, Andy. "Watch Pixies Play "Catfish Kate" on Colbert". Spin. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  9. Condon, Dan. "Pixies announce Australian tour for 2020". Double J. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  10. "Beneath the Eyrie - Pixies Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  11. Phares, Heather. "Beneath the Eyrie – Pixies". AllMusic. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  12. Beech, Dave (September 12, 2019). "PIXIES - Beneath The Eyrie". Clash. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  13. Bentley, James (September 13, 2019). "Pixies - Beneath the Eyre". DIY. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  14. Simpson, Dave (September 13, 2019). "Pixies: Beneath the Eyrie review - gothy, theatrical alt-rock fables and tall tales". The Guardian. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  15. Bray, Elisa (September 12, 2019). "Album reviews: Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie, Jenny Hval – The Practice of Love, and Metronomy Forever". The Independent. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  16. Trendell, Andrew (September 12, 2019). "Pixies - 'Beneath The Eyrie' review". NME. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  17. Mongredien, Phil (September 15, 2019). "Pixies: Beneath the Eyrie review – workaday once again". The Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  18. Rytlewski, Evan (September 12, 2019). "Pixies: Beneath the Eyrie Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  19. Woronzoff, Elizabeth (September 12, 2019). "Pixies: Beneath the Eyrie (album review) - PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  20. Grow, Kory (September 13, 2019). "Review: Pixies' New Album 'Beneath the Eyrie' - Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  21. Weiss, Dan (September 17, 2019). "Pixies Find Some Redemption on Beneath the Eyrie". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  22. "Australiancharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  23. "Austriancharts.at – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  24. "Ultratop.be – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  25. "Ultratop.be – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  26. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201941 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  27. "Lescharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  28. "Offiziellecharts.de – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  29. "Irish Albums Chart: 20 September 2019". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  30. "Italiancharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  31. "The Pixies". Oricon. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  32. "Portuguesecharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  33. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  34. "Spanishcharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  35. "Swisscharts.com – Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  36. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
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